How to Roast Pumpkin SeedsHomemade, roasted pumpkin seeds are heavenly.  If you haven’t made them before let me assure you it is super easy, and as an added incentive to make them, they are very healthy for you.

Okay, let’s get started.  Here I have my bowl of pumpkin seeds and the pumpkin guts.  I have no idea the official name of a pumpkin’s insides, so I’m going with guts.  We didn’t have much guts this time, which made it easier to clean out the pumpkin.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds001The first thing I do is to try to remove as much of the guts from the seeds as possible.  You don’t have to be super careful about getting it all off.  You could be there for days separating them if you were nit picky about it.  The top picture is my before, the bottom one my after.   As you can see there is still some stringy stuff and that’s okay.
Roasted Pumpkin Seeds002

Next, I rinse them in my strainer.  A lot more of the guts come off when you rinse them and they are not as slimy any more, but there are still a few strings.  It is up to you how much time you spend to taking all of the guts out of the seeds.  I think they add to the flavor so I’m not too worried if there is still some on the seeds.  Roasted Pumpkin Seeds003

After they have been rinsed, I spread them out on a greased cookie sheet.  Spread them out in a single layer so they can roast evenly.  Next, I salt them.  It is hard to say exactly how much salt to use because you never get the same amount of seeds out of each pumpkin.  So, what I do is to give them a good salting, stir them around really well, and then taste one.  If it is not salty enough I add more salt.  Just keep salting until you get the right amount of saltiness for you.  If you get too much salt, go ahead and rinse them off again and start over.  Roasted Pumpkin Seeds004

This time when before I stuck my seeds in the oven I let them sit on the counter for 2 hours while I waited for the pumpkin to cook in the oven.  I usually bake them as soon as I rinse them, but I liked them better this time.  Letting them sit helped them dry out and they cooked much more quickly and evenly this time.  I stirred them a few times during the 2 hour wait so that they would dry out evenly.

You can bake them right away, but it will just take longer.

I baked mine at 350* for about 13 minutes.  I stir them every 5 minutes to make sure that they cook on both sides.  They cook quickly so keep an eye on them, especially the last few minutes.  Take them out of the oven as soon as they get crisp.  You don’t want them soggy or too crunchy.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
I had planned on taking another picture of them in a bowl, but my kids gobbled them up too quickly. If you have extra left over after you sample them, store them in an airtight container for later.

See, wasn’t that easy?  Once you make them and eat some you are going to kick yourself for not making them sooner.

If you missed my post on how to cook your pumpkin check it out  here.

 

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